This invention relates to a slide ring seal assembly, particularly a seal for a running gear and is of the type which has a slide ring and a support ring, both provided with conical surfaces which serve as rolling faces for an elastic rolling body disposed between the slide ring and the support ring. The support ring is made of an elastic material and includes an embedded, generally cylindrical (annular) reinforcing body.
Conventional slide ring seal assemblies of the above-outlined type are generally used in pairs, and the two geometrically identical slide rings of a pair are axially pressed to one another by the expansion force (restoring force) of the compressed elastic rolling bodies to obtain the required sealing effect.
For supporting the elastic rolling body, conically extending faces are required both on the slide ring and the machine component in which the slide ring seal assembly is inserted. The inclinations of the conical surfaces are unlike so that with an increasing axial displacement of the slide ring, the cross-sectional deformation and diametrical change of the elastic rolling body increases. The cross-sectional deformation of the rolling body as well as its diametrical change are critical factors for pressing together the slide faces of the two slide rings of the slide ring seal assembly pair. The rolling body furthermore assumes a sealing function between the axially movably supported slide ring and the machine component, and also provides for the transmission of torque. To ensure that the rolling body may perform its functions in a satisfactory manner, it is required to accurately dimension and finish the conical surfaces. To avoid a relatively expensive machining of the machine component to provide it with the conical surface, separate support rings have been used which may be inserted into a cylindrical well of the machine component. Thus, German Gebrauchsmuster (Utility Model) No. 6,904,242 discloses a reinforcing body which is embedded into the elastic material of the support ring and which is a deep-drawn sheet metal component.
In some applications it is necessary to shroud the reinforcing body to prevent corrosion thereof. The disadvantage of known reinforcing bodies of this type resides in that the deep-drawn sheet metal parts have to be sandblasted and have to be provided with chemical adhesives to ensure a bond between the metal component and the elastomer material of the support ring. In case of an insufficient bond the elastomer material separates from the metal reinforcing body, whereby corrosive substances may gain access to the metal component to such an extent that the entire metal/elastomer bond is destroyed, leading to a breakdown of the slide ring assembly.